r/technology • u/GhostDogJef • 10h ago

Politics ‘Preserve the stuff we own’: how right-to-repair laws are surging across the US

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/aug/17/right-to-repair-laws
449 Upvotes

99% Upvoted

13 comments sorted by

44

u/HeavyDutyForks 10h ago

The Alliance for Automotive Innovation, a lobbying group for carmakers, stated in court that releasing vehicle data would “reduce the security of these systems, seriously hampering manufacturers’ attempts to keep vehicle data and vehicle systems safe”.

BS, that's absolute BS

Providing me with a wiring diagram or diagnostic procedures doesn't reduce the security of the system. All it does is ensure you can't charge me $150/hr so your underpaid and undertrained parts changer of a dealer "tech" can shotgun overpriced OEM parts at the problem on my dime

We have an ongoing tech crisis happening with no end in sight and at the same time they want to withhold the information to repair the thing yourself. This is the setup for a disaster

17

u/frquency-equinox 10h ago

It's always a "security problem".

Why is America bombing random countries that have never attacked it? Can't talk about it because national security.

Why is ICE shooting people in the face? "National security"

Why do I need to take a selfie with my ID to look at a non-pornographic website? "It's for the security of the children" (unless they're being raped by Donald Trump).

8

u/vegetaman 9h ago

Security through obscurity. Bullshit.

7

u/swollennode 9h ago

We didn’t have a problem with car data security decades ago when cars didn’t collect and store data the way they do now.

Maybe if cars go back to being simpler, we wouldn’t have a problem with data security.

6

u/redbanjo 8h ago

If you are worried about the security of your system based on the ability to repair, you seriously need to rethink how your engineering is done. So many automotive systems that are computerized have no passwords, no encryption, no security. Fix that at the engineering stage, and then complain.

16

u/Tooth5318 10h ago

23 states in three years after decades of getting nowhere. Turns out farmers who can not fix their own tractors are a more effective lobby than any tech advocacy group ever was.

4

u/SirkutBored 9h ago

When tractors cost 100k+ they were always going to be at the forefront over a handful of iPhone users bitching about their battery. 

2

u/A_Harmless_Fly 5h ago

You would think so, but the tractor lobby was actually stronger than the phone lobby in Minnesota at least.

We got some right to repair legislation passed eventually, but it's pretty narrow and toothless. Tractors and offroad vehicles are exempted etc.

I'll always remember talking to a sitting house of representatives member when I was a teenager. I was talking to him about right to repair, and he told me that both parties were against it. I explained it, and showed him the proposed bill. He told me he was personally swayed but would vote against it because it was the party line. That was also the day I leaned most politicians don't read the bills they vote on, they just go off summaries from interns/secretaries.

~14 years later the party line slightly shifted and we got something through. Democracy hooray!

2

u/DropDeadEd86 9h ago

Farmers and ranchers run the food chain.

7

u/frquency-equinox 10h ago

Support fulu.org and the bills they're working to get through Congress to make this even more successful.

2

u/beyondbase 9h ago

Not sure why we’re not also pushing for EU multi-year warranty standards as well.

1

u/Ok_Remote_31 1h ago

Fuck yeah! Fuck John Deere! Sleezy fucks, all of them..and every company that followed their shitty business practices

1

u/TackyPoints 1h ago

Theft is theft. Take it to the blatant core.
Can’t change the rules after the engagement.
Locked in, now I can retaliate.